The Biebs – who is currently holidaying in Japan with his mother – has been forced to apologise after posting a photo on Instagram of him visiting a Japanese shrine honouring some of the country’s worst war criminals.

The infamous Yasukuni Shrine remembers former military leaders from Japan’s imperial army, responsible for mass atrocities across Asia and the Pacific during World War II.

Bieber captioned the picture: ‘Thank you for your blessings,’ and the snap received more than 700,000 likes and tens of thousands of retweets, before being taken down.

The post also sparked outrage among his fans on social media:

@justinbieber Justin,your ignorance just let Chinese fans down, next time please learn some history before you post a pic!